The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-04-29
Tie Maxwell Land Grant.

! IL is expected that the Holland syndicate
which owns the Maxwell land grant in New
Mexico, will soon begin proceedings to
evict the settlers upon it, or to force them to
buy, al good price, what they claim, The
, number of settlers IS very large. There are
several towns upon the land and a dozen or
more small villages. In our dispatches a
few days ago the main points of the decision
of the United States Supreme Court, in
which the claim of the Holland syndicate to
the grant was recognized, were given. The
facts, however, upon which the claim was
based were not stated
Nearly half century ago Charles Beau
lieu and Gaudaloupe Miranda obtained from
the republic of Mexico a grant of land in
New Mexico on condition that they would
settle upon it a colony of French Canadians.
What the extent of the grant was has never
been satisfactorily stated. Beaulieu and
Miranda took possession of the grant,
but they did not perform their part of the
contract. New Mexico never saw the colony
of French Canadians which was to be the
consideration for the grant. Beaulieu and
Miranda lived upon it very comfortably,
however, and, in the course of a short time,
Lucien B. Maxwell came into possession of
it by inheritance. He lived fast and
spent money so rapidly that he
became overwhelmed with debt and was
forced into bankruptcy. The grant was
sold by Stephen B. Elkins, as agent, to
Holland syndicate for 81 400, 900. This
seems like large sum for tract of land in
New Mexico, but it must not be forgotten
that this Maxwell tract is about as large as
the States of Rhode Island and Delaware
combined.
The title of Beaulieu and Miranda was as
sailed sevetaltimes before the question of the
right of the Holland syndicate to the land
was raised in the Federal courts. In 1S41
an American, named Bell, claimed that the
grant infringed some pasture right which
he possessed, and the Governor of New Mex
leo suspended the grant. The succeeding
Governor, however, withdrew the suspen-
sion, and Beaulieu and Miranda were recog-
nized as the rghtful owners of it, which, at
that time, is supposed to have included only
about 100000 acres.
By the treaty between this country and
Mexico in 1913 it was agreed that all Mexi-
cans in New Mexico should have their claims
respected by the United States In 1854 the
general land surveyor of the United States
was instructed to report upon all claims that
existed prior to the ceSsiOn of New Mexico
to the United States. In his report to Con-
gress he decided the claim of Beaulieu and
Miranda TO be valid, and in 1860 that body
confirmed the report 1t was expressly
stated i'll the act of confirmation, however,
that the United States simply gave up what
ever right it might have to the land. The
claimants were not guaranteed good title
As the parties to the suit, lately decided by
the Supreme Court, were the United States
and the Holland syndicate, it is plain that
under the law the decision could not have
been different.
1t is asserted that the grant is covered all
over with fraud, and that the thousands of
honest settlers upon it, who expected to buy
their claims of the government at the price
charged for government land, will suffer a
| great wrong by being evicted AS far as
| the facts are known there are only two
reasons for this assertion. The first
is that Beaulieu and Miranda never
obtained title to the grant because they
did not comply with the conditions imposed
upon them by the Mexican government.
The second is that in some mysterious way
the grant grew from 100000 acres, which is
believed to have been its original extent, to
1000, 900 acres, which was about the size of
it when Stephen B. ElSins transferred it to
the Holland syndicate. 1t seems that Mr.
ElKins was more successful in han
ding land grant than he
was in managing Presidential campaign
1t may be that he had the benefit of Mr..
Blaine's advice when he was making the
big deal with the Holland capitalists.
Something more will be heard of the
Maxwell grant. When the work of evict-
ing the settlers begins it is not improbable
that more will be known about the fraudu-
lent features of the grant, if there are any,
than has yet appeared in print. Scenes
similar to those in Ireland may be witnessed
in New Mexico.